scholarly journals Harmonization of the assessment method for classifying the ecological quality status of very large Greek rivers

2018 ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lazaridou ◽  
Chrysoula Ntislidou ◽  
Ioannis Karaouzas ◽  
Nikolaos Skoulikidis ◽  
Sebastian Birk
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Status ◽  
Organic Pollution ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Biological Assessment ◽  
Ecological Quality Status ◽  
Status Assessment ◽  
High Good ◽  
Good Ecological Status

The intercalibration exercise is required by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to harmonize the national ecological class boundaries across Member States. It is applied to individual types of water bodies, comparing WFD-compliant biological assessment methods using specific quality elements. This study addresses the harmonization of the STAR_ICMi index for the ecological status assessment of very large Greek rivers in compliance with the completed intercalibration exercise for European very large rivers. River sites were sampled biannually for benthic invertebrates (as biological quality element) and environmental data during different surveys. The water quality of the samples ranged from high to bad. STAR_ICMi was significantly correlated to the Combined Abiotic Pressure index (CAPi) and its component pressures channelization, riparian vegetation alteration, and to a lesser extent to organic pollution. During the intercalibration approach benchmark standardization was applied to the component metrics of the intercalibration index prior to boundary comparison to minimize typological differences. The Greek class boundaries of high/good and good/moderate ecological status were compared and harmonized with the “Global Mean View” defined in the completed European intercalibration exercise. Similarity percentage analysis of biological community variation was performed for sites in high, good, and less than good ecological status according to the intercalibrated Greek classification.

scholarly journals How to Assess the Ecological Status of Highly Humic Lakes? Development of a New Method Based on Benthic Invertebrates

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Dāvis Ozoliņš ◽  
Agnija Skuja ◽  
Jolanta Jēkabsone ◽  
Ilga Kokorite ◽  
Andris Avotins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Status ◽  
Working Party ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Humic Lakes ◽  
Raised Bog ◽  
Raised Bogs ◽  
Taxa Richness ◽  
Bog Lakes ◽  
Status Assessment

Highly humic lakes are typical for the boreal zone. These unique ecosystems are characterised as relatively undisturbed habitats with brown water, high acidity, low nutrient content and lack of macrophytes. Current lake assessment methods are not appropriate for ecological assessment of highly humic lakes because of their unique properties and differing human pressures acting on these ecosystems. This study proposes a new approach suitable for the ecological status assessment of highly humic lakes impacted by hydrological modifications. Altogether, 52 macroinvertebrate samples from 15 raised bog lakes were used to develop the method. The studied lakes are located in the raised bogs at the central and eastern parts of Latvia. Altered water level was found as the main threat to the humic lake habitats since no other pressures were established. A multimetric index based on macroinvertebrate abundance, littoral and profundal preferences, Coleoptera taxa richness and the Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) Score is suggested as the most suitable tool to assess the ecological quality of the highly humic lakes.

scholarly journals Ecological assessment of the River Nile around Gizert El-Warrak by Phytoplankton and macroinvertebrates assemblages

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kadria M.A. Mahmoud ◽  
Sara S.M. Sayed ◽  
Mohamed R. Habib
Keyword(s):  
Diversity Index ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Organic Pollution ◽  
Ecological Assessment ◽  
Biological Assessment ◽  
Biotic Index ◽  
Trophic State Index ◽  
River Nile ◽  
Summary Statement ◽  
State Index

AbstractBiological assessment is considered a useful tool for assessing the ecological status of the aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to use phytoplankton and macroinvertebrates as biological tools for ecological assessment of the River Nile around Gizert El-Warrak. A total of 33 phytoplankton species identified in the studied stations; these include 16 species of Chlorophyta, 5 species of Cyanophyta and 12 species of Bacillariophyta. All investigated stations characterized by high organic pollution according to Palmer′s index. Trophic state index showed a hyper-eutrophic status in stations S1, S2, S4, S6 and S8 and an eutrophic status in stations S3, S5 and S7.Gastropoda and Oligochaeta were the most dominant of macroinvertebrates taxa recorded 50.8 and 24.6%, respectively. Diversity Index (H′) ranged (1.14 – 2) which indicated that the structure of macroinvertebrates habitat was poor. Also, Evenness Index (J) ranged (0.016 – 0.043) which indicated that individuals were not distributed equally. The values of biotic index depending on macroinvertebrates categories showed that the River Nile’s water quality is fairly poor with significant organic pollution.Summary statementBioassessment based on non-taxonomic measurements of algae and biotic indices of macroinvertebrates may be considered as vital methods that reflect disturbances in aquatic systems for both short-term and long-term.

scholarly journals El estado ecológico de las pequeñas cuencas de cabecera en las serranías béticas húmedas (parque natural Los Alcornocales, sur de España) según la Directiva Marco del Agua: ¿su aplicación garantiza la conservación?

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
A. Ruiz–García ◽  
◽  
M. Ferreras-Romero ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Reference Conditions ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Mountain Rivers ◽  
Natural Park ◽  
Environmental Status ◽  
Spanish Atlantic ◽  
Good Ecological Status

In compliance with the European Water Framework Directive, member states have had to develop a method to assess the quality of aquatic ecosystems by comparing the current situation regarding near–natural reference conditions for each river type. In 2008, the Spanish Ministry of Environment approved the Order of Water Planning Statement. This statement sets out reference conditions and ecological status class change limits for the different types of rivers in Spain for which sufficient data are available. In the presentstudy, we established reference conditions and quality class thresholds for streams classified as wet Betic mountain rivers from 24 reaches of streams located in the Los Alcornocales natural park, using two qualitative indices based on macroinvertebrates (IBMWP and IMMi–L). The results for the IBMWP index indicate that from the standpoint of management of the ecological state, the watercourses studied show more affinity with the types of the Spanish Atlantic siliceous slope than with those of the Mediterranean siliceous slope when we consider EQR values. Considering the threshold values, the index resembles siliceous low Mediterranean mountain rivers (type 8). However, the EQR values do not match those calculated in this study. These results suggest that it is necessary to use an index adapted to the characteristics of these watercourses. Application of the quality criteria contained in the Guadalete–Barbate and Mediterranean–Andalusian Basin Plans to the management of these waterways is discussed, because it is unlikely that they ensure the maintenance of good ecological status. We thus propose a new calibration of the IBMWP index that ensures the maintenance of good environmental status of watercourses in this natural area, and the use of the IMMi–L index as an effective management tool. However, as our study area represents only a part of the wet headwaters in the southern Iberian peninsula, analysis of other basin types is necessary to complete such information.

A machine learning model to link ecological response and anthropogenic stressors: a tool for water management in the Tagus River Basin (Spain)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlotta Valerio ◽  
Alberto Garrido ◽  
Gonzalo Martinez-Muñoz ◽  
Lucia De Stefano
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Machine Learning Model ◽  
Tagus River ◽  
Good Ecological Status

<p>Freshwater ecosystems are threatened by multiple anthropic pressures. Understanding the effect of pressures on the ecological status is essential for the design of effective policy measures but can be challenging from a methodological point of view. In this study we propose to capture these complex relations by means of a machine learning model that predicts the ecological response of surface water bodies to several anthropic stressors. The model was applied to the Spanish stretch of the Tagus River Basin. The performance of two machine learning algorithms -Random Forest (RF) and Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) - was compared. The response variables in the model were the biotic quality indices of macroinvertebrates (Iberian Biomonitoring Working Party) and diatoms (Indice de Polluosensibilité Spécifique). The stressors used as explanatory variables belong to the following categories: physicochemical water quality, land use, alteration of the hydrological regime and hydromorphological degradation. Variables describing the natural environmental variability were also included. According to the coefficient of determination, the root mean square error and the mean absolute error, the RF algorithm has the best explanatory power for both biotic indices. The categories of land cover in the upstream catchment area, the nutrient concentrations and the elevation of the water body are ranked as the main features at play in determining the quality of biological communities. Among the hydromorphological elements, the alteration of the riparian forest (expressed by the Riparian Forest Quality Index) is the most relevant feature, while the hydrological alteration does not seem to influence significantly the value of the biotic indices. Our model was used to identify potential policy measures aimed at improving the biological quality of surface water bodies in the most critical areas of the basin. Specifically, the biotic quality indices were modelled imposing the maximum concentration of nutrients that the Spanish legislation prescribes to ensure a good ecological status. According to our model, the nutrient thresholds set by the Spanish legislation are insufficient to ensure values of biological indicators consistent with the good ecological status in the entire basin. We tested several scenarios of more restrictive nutrient concentrations and values of hydromorphological quality to explore the conditions required to achieve the good ecological status. The predicted percentage of water bodies in good status increases when a high  Riparian Forest Quality Index is set, confirming the importance of combining physico-chemical and hydromorphological improvements in order to ameliorate the status of freshwater ecosystems. </p>

scholarly journals Temporal changes of aquatic macrophytes vegetation in a Iowland groundwater feed eutrophic course (Klátovské rameno, Slovakia)

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Oťahel'ová ◽  
Richard Hrivnák ◽  
Milan Valachovič ◽  
Georg A. Janauer
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Macrophytes ◽  
Dominant Species ◽  
Aquatic Macrophyte ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Temporal Changes ◽  
European Standard ◽  
Macrophyte Species ◽  
Good Ecological Status

Klátovské rameno is the lowland slow-flowing groundwater feed eutrophic tributary of the Malý Dunaj River (Danube Plain), where our study of temporal changes of aquatic macrophytes vegetation was realised in 1999 and 2005. For survey of aquatic vascular macrophytes the Kohler’s method (Janauer 2003) was used, which is compliant with European standard EN 14184. Altogether 35 aquatic macrophyte species were recorded during the survey. Nuphar lutea persisted as the most dominant species in 1996 and 2005. Species diversity increased slightly after the nine years: ten species immigrated to the watercourse. The changes in species abundance have shown weak differences, however the abundance of Sparganium emersum has increased markedly. Alien species Elodea canadensis and both S. emersum and Hydrocharis morsus-ranae significantly enlarged their distribution in the stream. The ecological quality of the river, based on the aquatic macrophytes assessment criteria, was slightly impaired after nine years, but still 90% of its studied course has a high or good ecological status.

scholarly journals The pressures and the ecological quality status of the Marmara Sea (Turkey) by using marine macroalgae and angiosperms

2020 ◽  
pp. 632-638
Author(s):  
Ergün Taşkın ◽  
İbrahim Tan ◽  
Orkide Minareci ◽  
Ersin Minareci ◽  
Hakan Atabay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Status ◽  
Marine Macroalgae ◽  
Marmara Sea ◽  
Ecological Quality ◽  
Ecological Index ◽  
Pressure Index ◽  
Ecological Quality Status ◽  
Good Ecological Status ◽  
Negative Linear Relationship ◽  
Quality Status

In the present study, the Marine Floristic Ecological Index (MARFEI) was tested to assess the impacts by using marine benthic macrophytes and pressures by using the Macroalgae-Land Uses Simplified Index (MA-LUSI) in the Marmara Sea (Turkey). Sampling of benthic macrophytes was made from 0-5 m depth at 29 different sites during the summer periods of 2017, 2018 and 2019. The study revealed good ecological status class (ESC) for 6 sites, moderate for 11 sites, poor for 8 sites and bad for 4 sites. MARFEIeqr showed a negative linear relationship with the pressure index MA-LUSI.

scholarly journals A General-Purpose Biotic Index to Measure Changes in Benthic Habitat Quality across Several Pressure Gradients

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 654
Author(s):  
Céline Labrune ◽  
Olivier Gauthier ◽  
Anxo Conde ◽  
Jacques Grall ◽  
Mats Blomqvist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Status ◽  
Benthic Fauna ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Biotic Index ◽  
Benthic Habitat ◽  
The North ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Status Assessment ◽  
Good Ecological Status ◽  
The Impact

Realistic assessments of the ecological status of benthic habitats, as requested by European directives such as the Water Framework Directive and the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, require biotic indices capable of detecting anthropogenic impact without having preliminary knowledge of the occurring pressures. In this context, a new general-purpose biotic index (GPBI) based on the deviation of benthic macrofauna community composition and structure from a valid reference (i.e., good ecological status) is proposed. GPBI is based on the assumption that as a site becomes impacted by a pressure, the most sensitive species are the first to disappear, and that stronger impacts lead to more important losses. Thus, it explicitly uses the within-species loss of individuals in the tested station in comparison to one or several reference stations as the basis of ecological status assessment. In this study, GPBI is successfully used in four case studies considering the impact of diversified pressures on benthic fauna: (1) maerl extraction in the northern Bay of Biscay, (2–3) dredging and trawling in the North Sea, and (4) hypoxic events at the seafloor in the Gullmarfjord. Our results show that GPBI was able to efficiently detect the impact of the different physical disturbances as well as that of hypoxia and that it performs better than commonly used pressure-specific indices (M-AMBI and TDI). Signal detection theory was used to propose a sound good/moderate ecological quality status boundary, and recommendations for future monitoring are also provided based on the reported performance of GPBI.

The use of the Biological Diatom Index (BDI) for the assessment of water quality in the Pilica River, Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogusław Szulc ◽  
Katarzyna Szulc
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chemical Analysis ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Central Section ◽  
Diatom Index ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Good Ecological Status

AbstractThe main aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of the Biological Diatom Index (BDI) (Lenoir & Coste 1996) for the estimation of water quality in the central section of the Pilica River, located in central Poland in Łódź province. The BDI has never been used before to monitor Polish surface waters. An analysis of the correlations between the values of the BDI and selected physico-chemical parameters was performed, as was an assessment of water quality using the BDI. On the basis of value ranges proposed by Descy and Ector (1996), a good ecological status in the Pilica River was obtained, but this did not correspond with the results achieved from the physico-chemical analysis. This study proposes new value ranges for the BDI. With these new values, the ecological state of the Pilica River changed from good to moderate, which corresponded with the physico-chemical analysis of the water. The new, proposed value ranges for the BDI assess more precisely the quality of water in lowland Polish rivers.

scholarly journals Evaluating the ecological status of mountain streams from a megacity (Mexico City) with diatoms: development and implementation of morphological and eDNA-based methods

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Hugo Salinas Camarillo ◽  
Javier Carmona-Jiménez ◽  
Nelida Abarca ◽  
Jonas Zimmermann ◽  
Demetrio Mora
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Fish Farming ◽  
Organic Pollution ◽  
Mountain Streams ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Ecological Quality ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Diatom Communities

In central Mexico, streams flow from mountain protected areas at high elevations, i.e. abive 2,400 m a.s.l., being exposed to different human activities along their course. The main human threats of these aquatic ecosystems include the presence of hydraulic infrastructure (e.g. canals and dams), the construction of bridges or roads, fish farming, agriculture, livestock, unregulated tourism or irregular human settlements, resulting in nutrient enrichment, organic pollution and low hydromorphological quality. Diatoms, widely recognized as valuable indicators of environmental conditions, offer a unique opportunity to assess the ecological quality of the streams in and around this megacity, as they respond directly and sensitively to specific physical, chemical and biological changes. To conduct ecological assessment, the composition of diatom communities has traditionally been characterized by morphological methods and most recently by environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. However, the diatom communities of only a few of these streams in the Basin of Mexico have been characterized morphologically at low resolution light microscopy (LM), and no eDNA-based studies have been conducted yet. In this context, our aims are to 1) implement morphological and eDNA metabarcoding methods for the identification and quantification of epilithic diatoms and to assess their seasonal and spatial response in three peri-urban mountain streams from the Basin of Mexico, and 2) develop a metric to assess and monitor the ecological quality in these streams. For this purpose, we characterized a) the physical, environmental and hydro-morphological conditions related to ecosystem quality, and b) the diatom diversity and community structure of nine sites per stream (27 sites). The sites include headwaters, as well as middle and lower reaches with different land-use and anthropologic pressures, and were investigated over three hydrological periods, i.e. post-rainy, dry-cold and dry-warm. Species identification was first conducted under LM and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and is currently been done by eDNA metabarcoding of the V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene and a fragment of the chloroplast marker rbcL. Our study has resulted in 520 infrageneric taxa identified by LM and SEM, the largest diversity ever found for freshwater diatoms of Mexico. From this data, we found a clear environmental gradient from almost pristine conditions towards heavily polluted states as the streams enter the city. These changes are well reflected by variations in the diatom community structure, as revealed by the Diatom Ecological Quality Index (DEQI), newly developed to evaluate the ecological quality of the streams in and around this megacity.

scholarly journals Is unstable reliable? Oxygen conditions in the ecological status assessment of lakes

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Hanna Soszka ◽  
Agnieszka Pasztaleniec ◽  
Agnieszka Kolada
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Stratified Lakes ◽  
Catchment Areas ◽  
Ecological Status Assessment ◽  
Oxygen Conditions ◽  
Status Assessment ◽  
Good Ecological Status

Abstract The Water Framework Directive introduces the requirement for ecological status assessment based primarily on aquatic organisms and supporting physico-chemical elements, including oxygen conditions. The criteria for assessing oxygen conditions applied in routine lake monitoring in Poland are based on the mean hypolimnetic saturation with oxygen at the peak of summer stagnation in stratified lakes, and on the oxygen content at the bottom in the summer in polimictic lakes. The currently used oxygen criteria usually cause dismay, particularly if biological elements indicate at least good ecological status and the oxygen conditions are the only reason for lowering status class. The aim of the article is to present the scale of variability of oxygen conditions in selected lakes within the last two decades and to analyse the limitations and conditions of applying this indicator in routine monitoring, assessment and classification of Polish lakes. Data from the years 1999–2015 on oxygen and thermal conditions in a set of nine benchmark lakes in Poland were examined and the reasons for changeability in water oxygenation from year to year were discussed. Alternative oxygen indicators were considered as well as oxygen standards based on fish protection requirements that have been adopted in some European countries. It was suggested that when assessing lake ecological status, data on the oxygen conditions from a number of years must be taken into consideration, e.g., for the analysis of trends in lake trophy changes or for documenting the effects of remedial actions in lake catchment areas in long time frames.

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